Christmas Morning/Lunch

Evan and I had a wonderful Christmas day with the boys. After eating breakfast, the boys checked out what Santa had brought them and then we opened presents. The boys got toys, toys, and more toys, but they also got some practical things too like diapers, formula, bottles, and clothes. Evan's big gift was a GPS. He had been wanting one but he had no idea that I had gotten it. He was totally surprised. My big gift was a new camera. Yahoo!! I have been wanting one but couldn't justify going out a buying one for no reason since I already had one that was decent. Evan even charged the battery ahead of time so as soon as I opened it I could start taking pictures. He also got me this reed diffuser that I had been wanting for a long time. It was one of those things that I REALLY wanted, but I never would have spent the money on it.

The boys had the cutest matching pajamas that were monogrammed. I loved them! We enjoyed watching the boys play with their new toys, but they were mostly interested in playing with the wrapping paper. Until then, I had no idea how much the boys loved playing with paper. I think I have just found a good use for all those catalogs we get in the mail.

Evan and I cooked a delicious lunch and unfortunately the boys didn't get to eat any of it, but next year they'll be able to. Well at least the food part. We'll wait a few years on the wine. :-)

Santa's goodies

Caramel Turtle Brownies

Remnants of Lunch

Christmas at Nene and Pop's

This year we celebrated Christmas at Nene and Pop's on Christmas Eve. We ate lunch with everyone and then opened presents. The food was DELICIOUS and as always I ate way too much. The problem for me is I always like everything so I have trouble passing anything up. After lunch we opened presents. :-) The boys got lots of clothes, a super play yard, and toys and Evan and I got lots of things for the house which was perfect. The boys loved playing in the wrapping paper and it was so much fun to watch them.

Shaw Family Christmas

We do Christmas with my extended family every year. It rotates between families as to who hosts it and this year it was my families turn. About 70-80 of us get together the Sunday before Christmas and we've been doing this as long as I can remember. We chat and catch up with each other and enjoy lots of good food. It's always so fun seeing everyone. I'm so blessed to be a part of such a close knit family. It was a little overwhelming for the boys and they got kind of fussy, but I'm sure next year it will be a little easier since they will be a little older.

have yourself a merry little christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas and we hope that you did as well. Christmas is my favorite holiday because I enjoy getting to spend quality time with family and friends. Some of the other holidays feel rushed to me, but I always feel like at Christmas we truly get to enjoy spending time together, which is one of my favorite things to do.

This Christmas was particularly meaningful because there were a lot of firsts for our family. This was the boys FIRST Christmas, which was so special because they will never have another first Christmas. I will always cherish the memories of how excited they were playing in the wrapping paper. Out of all the presents the boys received their favorite thing by far was the wrapping paper. :-)

This was our FIRST Christmas in our new house. I love to decorate for Christmas and I really haven't been able to in the past. We had a tree in our condo, but we were limited on space so we couldn't do much decorating. I have always wanted to have 2 Christmas trees, a fun (meaning colored lights) one and a pretty (meaning white lights) one. This year I had two trees and I absolutely LOVED it!

For the FIRST time Evan and I cooked a fabulous lunch on Christmas day. It ended up taking longer than expected so I didn't get a picture of the meal beforehand because we were starving, but I did manage to take a picture of the remnants. We roasted fresh organic chickens, had garlic mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and for dessert, caramel turtle brownies. We also celebrated with a nice bottle of white wine. It was DELICIOUS!!


For the FIRST time Katherine, Lesley, and I did our Christmas celebration with the kids. Things have changed a lot since last Christmas. There were only 2 kids last year and this year there were 5. Next year we will have 6 kids altogether. WOW! We had a great time, but it was a little chaotic! Lesley had given all of our munchkins matching outfits so we dressed them alike and attempted to take a picture. When you see the picture you have to remember that there were 5 kids under the age of 2 1/2. Ha, ha! They actually did better than I thought they would. Afterward, we said that next year we might do a nice quiet girls lunch. :-) We'll see...

We had lots of Christmas celebrations so it will take me a little while to post all of them, but check back regularly for updates. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas at Nana and Granddaddy's

Christmas at Nana and Granddaddy's is very chaotic and we love it. We get together with my grandparents and my mom's sisters, brother and all of the kids. There's about 40 of us all together and the family still continues to grow. Next year we will have at least one more little one. All of the kids open their presents first, then the adults, and then the adults do a Chinese gift exchange. It's a lot of fun and even though traveling for the boys was really hard this year, we wouldn't have missed it. I've been a part of this family tradition my whole life and Evan has been a part of it for close to 10 years.

Huge Giveaway!

There's a huge giveaway going on right now. All the proceeds go to charity! Click on the Rebel for A Cause button on the side of my blog to enter or click below. Good luck!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!